France’s pace of greenhouse gas emissions reduction slowed for a second consecutive year in 2025, leaving the country off track to meet its climate targets, according to a provisional government-commissioned forecast published on Tuesday.
Data from Citepa, a non-profit organisation mandated by the Ministry of Ecological Transition to compile France’s greenhouse gas inventory, showed that emissions fell by an estimated 1.6 per cent year-on-year in 2025. The decline, equivalent to 5.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, was “far below the pace needed to reach 2030 targets,” Citepa said, extending a slowdown observed in recent years.
France unveiled an updated roadmap in December outlining its pathway to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. Under the plan, emissions must fall by an average of 4.6 per cent annually through 2030 to remain on track.
After recording reductions of 3.9 per cent in 2022 and 6.8 per cent in 2023, the rate of emissions cuts dropped sharply to 1.8 per cent in 2024, before easing further in 2025. Citepa noted that an earlier forecast had projected a 0.8 per cent decline for 2025, but said updated data and revised calculation methods allowed for a more accurate estimate.
While modest improvements were seen in high-emitting sectors such as industry, agriculture and transport, emissions in the energy and waste treatment sectors remained largely unchanged. Citepa said reducing emissions in these areas continues to pose a significant challenge for industrialised economies like France, which is often viewed as a leader in the transition to a low-carbon future.
The findings have renewed calls for stronger action to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Anne Bringault, a director at Climate Action Network France, said the latest assessment underscored the urgency of addressing both climate and geopolitical risks.
“It is high time to take seriously the climate risk, but also the geopolitical risk of making us suffer from our dependence on fossil fuels, which are overwhelmingly imported,” she told AFP.
France’s slowdown mirrors a similar trend in neighbouring Germany, where emissions fell by just 1.5 per cent in 2025, according to an annual report released last week by energy think tank Agora Energiewende.
The European Union has pledged to cut its net greenhouse gas emissions by 90 per cent by 2040 compared with 1990 levels, having already achieved a 37 per cent reduction by 2023.
